Paying for voters? McMahon campaign plan draws questions

Brian Lockhart, Staff Writer

Published 12:02 am, Saturday, April 24, 2010

STAMFORD -- A plan formulated by the U.S. Senate campaign of Linda McMahon to pay students an extra $5 for each Republican registered during a voter registration drive at the University of Connecticut next week has drawn questions from election officials, lawmakers and at least one Republican vying for the

nomination.

Paying to register voters for a political party is not illegal, but the practice has drawn questions, particularly during a highly publicized voter fraud probe of the nonprofit group ACORN.

"It's a practice that the Justice Department has frowned upon," said Av Harris, spokesman for the secretary of the state's office, which oversees voter registration.

"Each student who works will earn $10 (an hour) while working up to 5 hours a day and 4 days total, with a bonus of $5 per Republican registered," Gasser wrote.

In recent years, several states, including Connecticut, investigated voter fraud involving ACORN, a nationwide umbrella of low- and moderate-income groups devoted to social justice programs and which pays workers to register new voters.

Harris said ACORN's troubles led the Department of Justice to suggest that states tighten their voter drive regulations and scrutinize paid voter recruitment.

"They said this is a practice which they frown upon, and you may want to look at legislation that may eliminate that," Harris said. "They felt like that opened up the possibility of fraud."

But Connecticut lawmakers have not moved forward with any changes to the law.

Gasser, in a phone interview Thursday, confirmed the arrangement with the McMahon campaign.

"She had a representative of her campaign, a former student, come and say, `We're looking into recruiting both Republican and Democratic voters just to get people involved and get them registered,' " Gasser said. "And she's paying us for the time it takes to do that."

Gasser emphasized there was no intention to promote the drive as a McMahon event, and he said he recognized there might be some concerns about the payments.

"I approached this extremely carefully. The last thing I want is to be embroiled in some scandal," he said. "I'm making sure to approach this on a very nonpartisan basis, making it clear she may be funding (the registration), but it's not a Republican-leaning process, and we're following the secretary of the state's guidelines."

But McMahon spokesman Ed Patru said the intention of the drive and others being planned is to help McMahon.

"We're absolutely registering voters on college campuses and growing the party through voter drives. Every student who is brought on to help with this effort signs a participation agreement -- a legal document. Students cannot pressure a potential voter register with a party affiliation," Patru said. "Having said that, their job is to promote Linda McMahon, and people who come and ask about Linda and say they want to support Linda, we share with them, `We'd love to have your support, but you have to be registered as a Republican to vote for her in the primary.' "

Patru argued that there is nothing abnormal about the practice or about paying bonuses for registering voters with a certain party.

"College students have a lot of energy, (but) I think it's important we compensate students for the time and commitment they make," Patru said. "It is important to this campaign that every student who participate in this effort is fully aware of the rules and regulations and the law pertaining to voter registration efforts. Every aspect of this operation is obviously going to be run by the book."

"That's a new one," Esposito said of the $5 bonuses, equating it to a sales

operation.

"It's like we're paying you to do this job, but you get a bonus if you sign up so many customers for this plan," said Esposito, the Republican registrar of voters in Hamden. "I think we would all agree it's unethical."

And at least one of McMahon's opponents for the Republican nomination was willing to criticize the $5

bonuses.

"Voter registration is admirable, but the bounty on Republicans seems a little ACORN-ish," said J.R. Romano, campaign manager for Peter Schiff, an economist and businessman.

Jim Barnett, spokesman for former Republican U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, who is also pursuing the GOP Senate nomination, said if and when that campaign launches voter registration drives, "we will not be paying bounties" for each Republican.